Categorization in the Peripheral Visual Field

Interns

Kylie Huch - Biology (CCS)

Abigail Hunt - Physiology

Cindy Lu - Computer Science

Christina Tao - Computer Science

Project Description

Making category judgments is an essential part of the human condition. Is the dog hungry or not? Am I hungry or not? Is Trump a serious candidate or is this some sort of publicity stunt? Our ability to categorize things allows us to respond appropriately for the situation and has been an essential survival trait (responding to a mountain lion the same way you would a cat is not a viable long-term strategy).

I am interested in how people categorize things differently depending on where it is in the visual field (center or more peripheral). The further out from the center of our vision the object, the worse we will be at telling what it is, but is it possible we are better at categorizing in different regions of our peripheral vision that are the same distance from center? Could someone have learned to categorize dog vs. wolf in their left visual field yet be unable to in their right?

Project Files

categorization_in_the_peripheral_visual_field.pdf